How to Make a Three-Michelin-Star Restaurant Out of Nothing

Getting a chef to pick a favorite cookbook is like asking a parent to choose her most-loved child. But F&W pressed great cooks around the country to reveal their all-time top picks. Here, Kevin Gillespie's pick.

“Michel Bras either never had or never exercised the opportunity to work for any of the famous big-name chefs,” Gillespie says. “He just created a cuisine that made sense to him, to his childhood memories and where he grew up. He committed to being better every single day, and eventually worked himself up from inheriting his family’s restaurant to creating a three-Michelin-star restaurant in the same spot. Though I haven’t reached that goal yet, I aspire to do some of what he’s done because it feels so genuine.”